Door-operating mechanism



July 29, 1930. M. JO-HNSEN ET AL DOOR OPERATING MECHANI SM F1198 Oct.29, 1928 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Y -INVENTORS (10]2128012 & C Hal/Liza Mal-LinJuly 29, 1930.

M. JOHNSEN ET AL 1,771,637

DOOR OPERATING MECHANISM Filed Oct. 29, 1928 s Sheets-Sheet 5 I:--.-':::::::I I 5 t?" 4 V 6 I l 31 7 a a o 17 J2 INVENTORS Mari/12 dam el;& .FICZHoLlin A Patented July 29, 1930 e UNI-FEW sfT-A T PATJE NT omenMARTIN .ronnsnn, or'ANrrocrn-Ann FREDERICK c," HOLLING, on SANFrancisco; r 7 CALIFORNIA Y r noon-ornneirrne MECHANISM Applicationfiled October 25, 1928. Serial lto. 315,872.

This invention relates to improvements in mechanisms for opening andclosing garage doors by means of the vehicle moving to andfromthegarage, and particularly represents improvements over ourpreviousfpatent, No.

1,646,025,dated October 18th, 1927, l

The principal objectsof'the pr esentinvention are to simplifytheconstruction of the apparatusover what was shown in'the patented device,without interfering with the eliiciency and positiveness ofoperationyand to arrange the operating mechanism so that the use ofsprings, with their tendency to stick or weaken through long use, isavoided. These objects we accomplish by means of suchstruicture andrelative arrangement of parts aswill fully appearby a pernsalo't' thefollowing specification and claims f H In the drawings similarcharacters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the severalviews: V f h Fig. 1 isa top plan view foreshortenedof the operatingstructure,

Fig. 2 is a sectionalelevation' of similar character showing theparts'in theposjitionsoccupied after the doors are closed and ready tobeacted on by the; front wheel'of a car to cause the door'sto open; a pU Fig. 3 1s an enlarged side elevation of the main control structure inthe position indie catejdinFig;2. 'j 4 is asimilar view but showing. theparts as positioned after the doors have been caused to open by theengagement'of a front wheel of the car with the controlrnernber. Fig. 5isa similar view showing the position of the parts after the front wheelhas passed'ov'erthestructure; j j,

Fig 6 is an interior end elevation of the garage c Referringnow gmo'rfeparticularly to the characters of reference on the drawings, the

- numeral 1 denotes a' a'ir ofiltransverfsely alincd rectangular framesofstiitable di1nen- 3 sions and sunk in'the'runWa'ysQ leading tothegarage id' a certain'dis tance' froln thelat ter. The asings-a edisposedfin thepath of the wheels of the carmoving to or from" hefeelaeime; Wh dr s ifli i il ithe runway covered by" two ilongitiidinally Vpression of the plate 4; the flat surface Aof alined plates4 and 5hinged at their adjacent ends asat 6,.the forward plate being secured tothe casing by a shaft 7 which connects the corresponding plates of bothcasings.

. The plates can buckle down between the sides of the casing buta'relimited insuch movement by a stop 8 thereunder. V The front end ofthe forward plate A: only is fizied, the rear end'of the rearplate'be'ing horizontally slidable on a supporting ledge 9 therebelo'w.One only of thefraines'has" a pit 1Q of considerable. depthnnderthecover plates; and in: this pitthe operating nieeha nism is mountedh lh N Projecting forwardly (or toward the Q garage) ifroin and rigidlysecuredto the shaft Tend dis osed in the pitji's an er-In 11 on which isfixed a weight 12,1[Thearnifand weight are so arrangedthatthe weightexerts an" upwardpressure on the plateand the mechanism connectedtherewith sufiicient to necessitate theweight o'f the forward portion ofanautomohile to overcome.

Mounted in the pit under theforgwardpla'te l isfljaverticalj supportingplate-er frame 13 forthe operating mechanism, I Adjacent the top of saidplate afcalnifdis'o 14 is" mounted on a horizontal transverse, axis, thedisc bein circular, except for a flat surfaceor side disposed inwardlyof'the' circular periphery; Pins 15 spaced 90 apart project fromone faceof the disc parallel to the axisthereof,

said pinsibeing concentriowith the axis of the cam 'lhe'se pins areadapted to be sue; joessively engaged by a weight.pressed'pawlm pivotedon depending from the plate 4; i saidpins and pawl being so arrangedasto I causethe disc to be rotatedlon'e quarter, turn in'arearw'arddirection with each full de- 1 he C m e ed pe djre e e t t e P so astobe'always positioned eitlier'lin a hori- V .zont'al or a verticalplane.

vA weight aetuated roller 17 is mounted in connection with the plate'13to yieIdably pro 5 i je'ct between adjacentpin'sto positively hold 7the disc at quarteriturn position. Projectlllg flfgn l thedisc adjacentthe rear end ofitherflat' surface A relative ,tothe: directionOfl'otat-lOIi of thediseis another transversely is of the doors towardthe adjacent side of the garage when said doors are closed is a rigidarm 21' having a. horizontalhook 22'on its inner end. A rigid link orconnecting rod 23 is pivoted onto the other door and onto the arm 21 insuch a manner that the opening and closing of both doors will take placesimultaneously, as in said previous patent. The armand rod are of courseadjacent'the top ofthe doors so as not to interfere with thepassage ofthe car thereunder. Mounted in the garage in horizontal alinement withthe hook 22 and disposed in a plane, lengthwise of the garage is a rod24 having a forwardly facing cat'ch 25 on one end normally engaging thehook 22. A weight 26 acts on said rod. to normally hold the catch andhook in engagement. "A cable 27 or the like is connected to the arm 21adjacent the hook end thereof and extends thence over a pulley 28 to aWeight 29 in such amanner that when the, catch 25 is released from thehook,said

weight acts on the arm to swing'th e same to a door opening position.

t The catch is thus released by a flexible 61a ment 3O connected-to therear end ofthe rod 24 and extending thence downwardly and rearwardly toa connection with the lower end of the arm 19. When the lower end ofsaid arm is pulled rearwardly,'as pre-.

viously'described, the catch 25 is disengaged from' the arm hook,allowing the weight 29 to function to op'enthe doors.

The doors when once opened are closed by the fourthsubsequent quarterrotation of the cam disc and the subsequent depression and releaseof'the plate 4 by thefollowing means. Projecting upwardly alongside theplate 13 is a substantially vertical bar 31'provided with a rearwardlyfacinghook 32 on so that when thebar is raised from. a prede-' terminedposition, said element will be pulled rearwardly. This element extendsto an adjustable connection with a verticalflever 36 which is pivotedintermediate its'endsin the garage adjacent one side thereof; (See Figs.1 and 2). Theupper' end ofthis lever is connected byia flexible element-'37 tonne of the doors 20'adjacen t its hinge, passing the door.

7 Connected to the bar intermedi ate its ends and passing thenceaboutand under a-pulley 34 mounted on theplate 131s a forwardlyextending flexible element 35,]

over a segmental guide member 38 fixed on The hook 32 of the bar 31 isadapted to be engaged by a transversely extending pin 39 mounted on anarm 40 pivoted on and depending from the plate 4 rearwardly of the pawl16. The pin is positioned intermediate the ends'of the arm and thelatter normally tends to swing forwardly so that the pin will engage thehook by a suitably arranged weight 41.

Interposed between the arm and disc is a vertical release arm 42,engaged on its rear side by the lower end of the arm 40 and pivoted atits lower end in connection with the plate 13. This arm 42 carries aroller-43 on its upper forward end which constantly engages theperiphery of the cam disc. The

above parts, are so arranged that when the roller is riding on thecircular portion of the cam, the arm 40 will be swung rearwardly so thatthe pin 39 is positioned rearwardly of the hook 32 so as not to engagethe same, regardless of the movement of the plate 4. \Vhen the flatportion A of the cam is engaged by said roller the arm 40 is free toswing forward by reason of the weight 41 sufliciently to cause the pin39 to be engaged with the hook '32. i i

VVhenthe doors are opened the lower end of'thelever 36 is swungforwardly, which pulls forwardly on'the element 37 and causes the bar 31to drop to its lowermost position. The raising of said bar due to theraising of the plate 4 from a fullydepressed positionis sufiicient tocause the-doors to be fully closed, the connected parts being soproportioned as to cause this to be accomplished.

In operation with the doors closed and the caroutside the garage theparts occupy the pos tions shown in Fig. 3, in whichthe pin 18 is aboutto engage the lever 19', the flat surface A of the disc is engaged withthe arm 32, and

the pin 39 on the arm 40 isstill engaged with the bar-hook, the barbeing in its raised position. As soon as the front wheel W of a carapproaching the garage engages and depresses the surface'plates, thedisc 14 will turn through a quarter revolution, the arm 19 will beshifted by thepin 18, and the doors opened as previously described.Almost as soon as the disc starts to turn, the arm 40 is swungrearwardly from the bar 31 the rotative movement of the circular portionof the v disc to engage the roller 43 of the interposed arm 42, and thearm pin 39 will then be 'disengaged from the bar-hook.

' This allows the arm 40 to move upwardly, with the subsequent upwardmovement of the plate 4 when the weight of the wheel WV leaves theplates, the disc will be again rotated witho'ut'any other action beinghad, since the ice pin 18 is then beyond the arm 19 and the roller i3 isstill riding on the circular surface of the disc. When the car is in thegarage the doors are closed by hand or by means of a wheel actuatedplate arrangement 44 such as was fully shown and described in the patentpreviously mentioned. .VVhen it is desired to leave the garage the doorsare opened by hand and with both the last named door movements nomovement of the disc and the connected mechanisms is had owing to theuse of flexible elements which connect such mechanism with the garageparts. The rear wheel of the car upon backing out of the garage againdepresses the plates and rotates the disc another quarter turn, stillnot causing any action. When, however, the forward wheel passes over theplates and the disc is again rotated a quarter turn, the flat surface Aagain engages the roller 43 so that the arm a0 is free to swingforwardly to cause the pinto engage the hook 32. Upon the wheel beingremoved from the plates, the upward movement of the plates raises thearm 40 and bar 31 together, 7

and causes the doors to be closed as was previously described. The partsare then in their original positions as shown in Fig. 8, ready for thenext door opening operationupon the return of a car toward the garage.

The use of the twohinged plates 4.- and 5 eliminates any sudden drop orabrupt bumps being received when the wheel depresses the plates andmovesalong the same. This, as will be evident is an improvement over theconstruction of the previous device inthis respect.

From the foregoing description it will be readily seen that we haveproduced such a device as substantially fulfills the objects of theinvention as set forth herein.

\Vhile this specification sets forth in detail the present and preferredconstruction, of the device, still in practice such deviations from suchdetail may be resorted to as do not form a departure from the spirit ofthe invention, as defined by the appended claims.

Having thus described our invention what we claim as new and useful anddesire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. Door operating mechanism including a.

plate to be depressed by the weight of a vehicle wheel passingthereover, a rotatable member under the plate, means between the plateand said member for causing the latter to be rotated a predeterminedextent with every depression of the plate, means between said member andthe door and actuated by such rotation for causing the door to beopened, means between the plate and door for causing the latter to beclosed, and means controlled by a subsequent rotation of the member forenabling said door closing means 7 to function; said member rotatingmeans comprising transverse pins projecting from said member and spaced90 apart concentric with the axis of the member, the latter being disposed in a vertical plane with its axis explate and said member forcausing the latter.

to be rotated a predeterminedextent with every depression of the plate,means between said member and the door and actuated'by such rotation forcausing the door to be opened, means between the plate and door forcausing the latter to be closed with the up-. ward movement of theplate, said means including normally disengaged ele1nents,and meansc-ontrolled bya subsequent rotative movement of the member .for causingsaid elements to become engaged,

3. Door operating mechanism including. a plate to be depressed by theweight of a vehicle wheel passing thereover, avertica-lly disposed discunder theplate havinga flat side onits periphery, means between theplate and disc for rotating the latter a quartereturn with eachdepression of the plate whereby said fiat side will ,occupythe sameposition only with ever-y fourth depression of the plate, a vertical barmovably mount ed under the plate arranged-forvertical movement,connecting means between said bar and the door to cause the latter to beclosed with a movement of the bar in an up ward direction, means on saidplate for engaging and moving the bar in a door closing directionwiththe upward movement'of the plate, and means permitting such engagementonly when the flat side of the disc occupies the plate, a vertical barmovably mounted underthe plate arranged for vertical movement,connecting means between said bar and the door to cause the latter tobeclosed with a movement of the bar in an upward direction, means onsaid plate for engaging and moving the bar in a door closing directionwith the upward movement, of the plate, said last named means comprisingan arm depending from and pivotedon the plate for movementlongitudinally of the plate, a transverse pin projecting from the arm, ahook on the bar for releasable engagement with the pin, yieldable meansacting on the arm tendto maintain the pin engaged with the hook, andmeans permitting such engagement only when thefiat side of thedisc-occupies a predetermined position relative to the arm.

5. A structure as in claim 4, in which said last named means comprises amovable member interposed between and engaged both by said arm below thepin and by the periphery of the disc; the flat side of the later beingdisposed inwardly of the circular periphery of the disc I 6. Dooroperating mechanism including a plate to be depressed by the weight of avehicle wheel passing thereover, a vertical barmovably mounted under theplate and arran ed for vertical movement, connecting means between saidbar and the door to cause the latter to be closed with the upward move-3H3 ment of the bar, an arm member depending from the plate toreleasably engage the bar and pull the same upwardly when the platemoves upwardly from a depressed position, and means controlled by thedepression of U- the plate for permitting the arm to thus engage the baronly with each fourth depression of the plate.

7. A structure as in claim 6, with means likewisecontrolled by thedepression of the m: plate for causing the door to be opened with adepression of the plate immediately subsequent to the one causing thedoor to be closed. -r

In testimony whereof we affix our signa- 3 tures. r r MARTIN JOI-INSEN.

FREDERICK C. -HOLLING.

